The father ends up in prison, his daughter in a home. In Efremov, a bleak little industrial city 300 km south of Moscow, the tragic separation of Alexei Moskaliov from Maria, 13, provokes indignation and… indifference. It all started a year ago, after the start of the Kremlin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. The teacher at the Efremov school asks her students for drawings to support the army. Only Maria makes a copy contrary to the official story: missiles target a woman and a child with a Ukrainian flag. The manager calls the police. The repressive machine is set in motion.
After alternating sentencing and legal respite, searches and interrogations, harassment and threats, Alexei Moskaliov, 54, owner of a small animal farm, was sentenced on March 28 to two years in prison. farm. Separated for a month from his daughter, he would have fled on the eve of the verdict before being just as mysteriously arrested in Minsk, Belarus, a faithful vassal of Moscow. This Thursday, April 6, he is summoned to the Efremov court for a second hearing which should deprive him of his parental authority and, barring a dramatic change, place Maria in an orphanage.
«When our troops invaded Ukraine, Alexei could no longer be silentsays Olga Podolskaya, an independent elected member of the Efremov city council. He voiced his opposition on social media and shared cartoons mocking Vladimir Putin. Maria’s drawing was at the heart of the prosecution, proof of her father’s guilt. » The case, in his eyes, is first and foremost a lesson: do not protest, prevent children from expressing themselves freely. Pointed out, this activist fears being in turn caught up in the repressive machine.
“People are afraid to speak”
In Efremov, few know about it. ” Never heard of it “, let go of a retiree and a teenager met at the Maison de la culture. «The authorities want to keep us in ignorance and passivity, while instilling fear in the rebels,” says Sergei, a retired Kremlin critic. “It’s excessive! », judges a father. A supporter of the Kremlin, he explains that he “the traitors must be punished but without going too far”. “A sad story »regrets a young passer-by met in front of the closed doors of the home of Efremov, where Maria would have been placed. “But what can we do? »
In the population, the separation of the daughter from her father, her “hero” as she wrote in a recent letter, has aroused discreet outbursts of solidarity. Some transferred money to Alexei when, fearing that his daughter would be placed in an orphanage, they moved to a nearby town. Others delivered food to him when he was placed under house arrest. «People are afraid to talk, but many are texting or saying they pray for him,” says Elena Agafonova.
The drawing at the origin of the long legal process. / Maria Moskaliova
At the head of a local NGO, the latter helped to house Alexei and Maria for two months, until 1is March, when he was arrested and his daughter sent to foster care. During these weeks of relative freedom, the father forgot politics, drove away the pressures and regained a taste for life. As for the daughter, she had a great birthday, continued school in “visio”, discovered horse riding, drew a lot. Since she was placed, no relative has been able to talk to the young girl.
«Propaganda now tries to smear Alexei with fake news about his porn inclinations or his criminal record», says Elena Agafonova, who fears that Maria’s mother, from whom Alexei is separated, will now be manipulated by the authorities to regain custody of her daughter, with whom she has not had contact for seven years. “I’ve seen them, he’s a good father, and his daughter adores him.»
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Prosecuted for “discrediting”
Alexei Moskaliov was sentenced on March 28 to two years in prison on the grounds that he allegedly “discredited” the armed forces of the Russian Federation, a charge brought in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Armed Forces Discredit Act was extended on March 14, 2023 by the Duma to fighters not strictly speaking part of the Russian army, such as volunteer formations or mercenaries from the Wagner group.